Tag: online

The wait was over for the young girl who wanted to buy a new phone through the monsoon’s amazing online sale offers. She did her research, shortlisted the phone and with full excitement went to the online site to purchase it. As soon as she landed on the site, she found that it was sold already! She felt like she had failed in an exam. She was almost in tears. The next few minutes were disheartening for her. But then a bright light shone in her life in form of a promotional SMS she got in her phone. It said that it was a new online shop and was selling phones at discounted rates. With a lightening speed, she went to the site and found her phone. She couldn’t believe her eyes. ..The phone was available! Without wasting a second- she clicked purchase and after a few days, the bright smile came back to her when the phone was delivered.

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Talking about conversion rates, the primary goal of all business is to convert a lead (obtained from various online or other promotional campaigns) into a buyer (who finally purchases the product). Now, this conversion statistic is in turn based on many other dependent conversions. A few of these are mentioned below:

Conversion of views to form submissions – This is one of the most common sources of online leads

Conversion of form submissions to subscribers (be it to newsletter or any other offers etc.)

Conversion of subscribers to repeat website visitors

Conversion of repeat visitors to first time buyers

Conversion of first time buyers to repeat buyers

Therefore, optimizing each of the steps in the customer life cycle would in turn cause an increase in percentage or probability of converted deals from online leads which are captured in the system.

Now, the question arises – how to optimize the content so as to ensure that the maximum customer progresses in the customer life cycle stages of ecommerce websites?

Majority of sales (especially B2C) do not involve a rational decision

This may sound erratic but it is not! There have been instances in the recent past wherein online stores with inferior products have recorded higher sales than online stores with better content and better pricing. This is because of the persuasion skills of these ecommerce sites. Most customers have been found to make purchases out of an emotional connect rather than judging on the rational utility of the product. Therefore, ecommerce’s who are able to present and position their products in a better way often get away with higher sales than otherwise.

All the glitters, at times, is gold

“All the glitters is not gold” may not be always true for online sales. This is because statistics (i.e., overall ecommerce statistics for 2016) show that 93% of the online consumers base their sale patterns and decisions on the visual appearance of the web portal or the ecommerce portal. And, approximately 52% of them decline to visit a particular web portal more than once in case they are not amused by the aesthetics of the website. The overall content involves the inclusion of videos, illustrating the utility of the product, chat widgets in the website, the ease of use and transition from one page to another and more importantly, the mobile responsiveness and the performance of the page – i.e. the time taken to load the web portal or the app.

Statistics and customer reviews have stated that more than 96% of visitors find videos to be more useful than static content, and the overall conversion may increase by more than 12% with the replacement of images with videos on the landing pages.

Apart from that, the loading speed is of extreme importance especially in economies wherein the internet bandwidth is less as compared to the number of users using it. Statistics say that about 73% of users accessing the landing pages from their mobile are not satisfied with the speed with which the website loads, and more than 65% of the online users are not willing to wait for more than 3 seconds for a website to get loaded. Therefore, it is important that the weight of the website is also light.

Live chat widgets do play a crucial part in customer engagement on the website. This, however, is more critical for B2B sales, which show a great improvement in conversion rates on having the live chat option on the website.

A/B testing could be one of the options to ensure website optimization

Now, given the customer behavior and the trends, the question arises as to how designers should offer a landing page catering to the terrain which is being targeted by the business because the customer value perception may differ from one geographical region to another. A/B testing could be one of the solutions to this dilemma. It captures the customer behavior to each of the webpage variants that has been launched by the designer. Now, each of the variants can have different positioning of components – one with video vs. one with the image, one with the chat option vs. one without the chat option and so on. Therefore, analyzing customer behavior on these variants may help designers to get a better and a more customized insight on the customer preferences in that particular geography.

Payment Security – a major reason behind shopping cart abandonment

Trust seal is a non-negotiable factor which needs to be considered by online players before launching it to customers. Most online shoppers have declined transactions due to risks in the payment process. In addition to that, the pricing of the product should be realistic and competitive. The cart abandonment rate has been the maximum in the payment gateway stage of the transaction, where the customer has declined payment due to such reasons.

So, you have decided to give your shop an online identity but still find it difficult to set the ball rolling. Don’t worry. You are not the only one going through the launching travails. Every entrepreneur goes through this situation. Even the premium players have experienced the grind and pondered over countless ifs and buts before making it to the top ranks. Hence, all you need to do is set aside the worries and get going with the task at hand.

To help you out, we will tell you about 4 simple and effective steps to get going. Following them, you can easily begin operations. These steps are tailor-made to suit an exclusive online store as well as a physical store looking to expand with an online avatar.

Research and regard your customers

Customers are the lifeline of every online business and if you want to sell more and attract more footfalls then you have to look at things from their perspective. From the look of your e-store to the shopping cart to subscription pop-ups, everything should be customer friendly. It must load fast and the customer should find it convenient to navigate through your site while looking for different items. The entire process, from arrival to checkout, ought to be seamless and simple. You must make sure that the site’s aesthetics and functionality go hand in hand. Just go through a shopping trial on a site that you find exemplary and incorporate all the desirable traits in your e-store.

Focus on product images

Studies have proved that visuals grab quick attention. They also possess higher engagement value. So, it is important to make sure that your products have good display. It will easily enamor the customers and help you to sell more. Your e-store should look like a well decorated physical store with all items showcased properly. Add zoom-out, side display, back display and other features to the images as it enhances their value. Also, write good copy for the products with complete information and catchy titles. Keep the search terms and keywords in mind as well.

Incorporate customer reviews

Customer reviews play a key role in increasing sales. They act as credible sales pitches which customers value greatly. So, if you want visitors to loosen their purse strings you should make space for reviews. Showcase the star ratings, testimonials and words of praise on your site, below or alongside the products. Do not be afraid of criticism or negative feedback. But if you want to obliterate it altogether, switch on the filters that track negative reviews or allow for review via the email method only.

Market intensively

E-commerce is a highly-contested niche and there are scores of competitors vying for the same target customers. So, you have to be proactive and market aggressively to get your store noticed. Luckily, you can rely on the multi-pronged online marketing and you should never underestimate its power. To make the most of this strategy, it is suggested, you go whole hog. Utilize every marketing tool like social media (esp. Instagram, Pinterest because they are images-oriented) SEO, Google AdWords (be discreet as it is expensive), content marketing, emails/newsletters, YouTube videos, etc. to grab the eyeballs. It is completely worth it and results in sustainable traffic as well as more sales.

Important points to keep in mind

Do not waste time being a perfectionist. Launch quickly because there is nothing like the perfect time or right time. Set up a time-limit for the research, cover all the aspects within the same and set the ball rolling.

Pick up an easy-to-use and customer friendly shopping cart as it impacts the customer experience. It has an important role in driving sales and profits. There are many options like Shopify, WooCommerce, Magento, Big Commerce, WP EasyCart, OpenCart, Prestashop to choose from.

Keep it lean in the initial phase and do as many things yourself. This will make sure that your financial resources are not unduly stressed and you can also save a fair deal.

Watch out for your competitors and always keep an eye on their innovations and strategies. You do not have to copy them but if they help to enhance sales without affecting your brand value, you can certainly take recourse to them.

Last but not the least, keep doing regular analysis of your performance. Modify the strategy as per the results and always focus on the target that you have set for your business.

Bottom Line

An online store has huge potential for growth because e-commerce is a cost-effective and simple business model. It is very popular and is being used by thousands of entrepreneurs, all over the world, to earn profits and make a name for themselves. So, just follow the steps and tips we have mentioned above and get ready to join the coveted league.

The Ecommerce sector in India has seen a rapid growth. The growth has been driven by many factors like increasing use of devices such as smartphones, tablets, notepad and ofcourse the most important is the adoption of technology led by ease of access to internet through 3G, 4G, broadband, etc.

The success of your online business depends on your customer expectations. Understanding your customer need and preferences can either make or break your business.It also affects the repurchase decision and customer loyalty. Online customer expects the easiest experience possible, and if you aren’t providing that for them, probabilities are that they will switch to competitor for future purchases. Following are some Online selling tips you should keep in mind to boost your e-commerce business and keep your customers happy.

1. Build a quality Website:

To create a valuable source of information “Website” it is very essential that the goals, content, structure, design, programming, and maintenance is defined clearly. What one needs is expertise—constantly. Make sure that website is simple to understand and reflects the objective of the business.A high quality website needs lots of effort and commitment.Simple navigation and easy shopping experience makes the customer happy, also assures the re-visit or repetitive purchase. Make sure that website is fast because every second it takes time to load your webpage – you lose one impatient customer, therefore a good server is also a part of high quality website. Tip – use wix.com for building websites which look awesome , are feature rich and load super fast.

2. Think Cross device:

Today the customer is tech savvy; they use different smart devices like mobile, tablet, i-pad, notepad etc. so you should always aim at providing consistent shopping experience across all the different devices. So don’t restrict only to desktop or laptop, think about cross device platforms. Tip – use the Google mobile speed optimization tool to test if your website is actually a cross device website.

3. Select the right Ecommerce software:

It is very important that you choose the right ecommerce software for your business; it can differ from business to business. Now a days launching and running the online is much easier but choosing the right ecommerce platform is tricky. Therefore pick one of the most standard e-Commerce platforms available today, and begin experimenting with it – until you find something that clicks and you right away.

Tip – use shopify which has been built keeping non-technical e-commerce owners in mind.

Before reading your unique and appealing product descriptions, your customer is going to look at the images for your product. So, spend some serious time taking quality photos of your products before you list that product for sale. Make sure that you provide product details to tell the customer everything they need (or want) to know about this item. This is chance to close the deal! Tip – use free stock image sites to download the marketing related images you want for your ecommerce website.

5. Customer service:

The common factor of all the prosperous businesses is that they are committed to providing their customers with a great service i.e. it’s about putting the needs of the customer in everything your business does – from the products, to the website, to the delivery. Tip – use zopim.com to help you with your web based customer service.

6. Focus on the delivery experience:

Online customer expects the hassle free and fast delivery for their products. The delivery strategy include many things like price you charge for delivery, service or benefits you offer, how will parcel look etc., It is worth investing in all these areas.

7. Think like paytm :

Repeat business always plays a crucial part in success of any online business. Give your customers a reason to return to your store by updating things regularly like adding new products, providing occasional sale, promotional sale etc. As a marketing tactics you can also offer an incentive to your clients to leave reviews of products on your website with a giveaway e.g. Win a Rs 500 voucher for the best review. Tip : Get inspiration from Paytm

These are few Online selling tips which can help your online business to grow. Every business demand different and effective online marketing strategy. One needs constant optimisation for better results. You need to work hard to build the trust of your customers. Trust needs to be built into every interaction the customer has with your business which covers customer testimonials and reviews on your site, deliver on your etc. Furthermore if you deliver a service that exceeds customer expectations, you can bet they will come back to buy again, and tell all their friends about the experience.

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We @NeoGrowth Credit help online sellers & retailers grow their business by providing business loans.